Sunday, May 25, 2014

FULL TEXT: MOSCOW, Russia, Oct. 23.— Moscow courts have just
passed severe sentences on three women, an “alimony widow” and two female
accomplices for fraudulent use of the statute requiring the father of a child
to pay one-third of his salary to its support.

The court, taking note of the increasing popularity of the
form of fraud, announced that strict steps would be taken hereafter to protect
the right of the helpless male population.

The number of so-called “alimony widows” in the Soviet Union
has become legion. As the government newspaper, “Izvestia,” says, “They are
constantly on the increase. It seems that with them it has become a sort of
sport as well as business, a sort of life entertainment.”

~ Live In Luxury. ~

There are women who have five or six children, each from a
different father.

But all the fathers have to pay the wife one-third of their
wages for the support of the child. Such an alimony widow lives in luxury.

The three women recently sentenced, however, came to grief
by being too greedy. Maria Sukhom­lina was married to a poor man.

When their first child came, Maria, envying the affluence of
certain friends of hers who had learned the trick of becoming “alimony widows,”
determined to choose a richer father for her baby than its real one was.

She picked on a wealthy neighbor, Mr. Vorovsky, a merchant.
True, Mr. Vorovsky as a matter of fact had never seen her, but Maria knew I how
to attend to that. She conferred with two of her women friends and told them
her plan.

~ Hatched Plot. ~

“If I can get the court to recognize Mr. Vorovsky as the
baby’s father, he will have to pay me at least 100 roubles a month, and out of
that sum I will buy you both new dresses.”

With this inducement, the two agreed to swear to their
personal knowledge of her “affair” with Mr. Vorovsky.

The latter, completely dumbfounded at the charge, defended
himself vigorously, and when the court, finding him guilty, ordered him to pay
alimony, lie refused and was sent to jail.

A month passed, and since Maria had no money with which to
fulfill her promises to her friends, they grew disgruntled, and finally, with
very little show of caution for their own interests, “squealed” to the
authorities.

Maria and her two friends were arrested, Mr. Vorovsky was
released, and the three women were sentenced to serve two years in jail.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Billy Carlyle White, a Kinston, North Carolina insurance
agent, was reported missing in 1992 by his wife, Sylvia Ipock-White. The local
Crime Stoppers organization asked for the public's help with the killing. In
response a caller offered two names. Investigation uncovered an elaborate
conspiracy. For about a year, Ipock-White had been trying to get and James
Lynwood Taylor to kill her husband. She said White beat her, among other
things. Taylor eventually agreed to do the deed and enlisted yet another
accomplice, bringing Ernest West Basden into the plan. The hit-team Taylor and
Basden set up a meeting, with assistance of the victim’s wife, with their
victim pretending to be interested in an insurance policy. Prior to the
meeting, White stopped by a local hotel where his wife was attending a
cosmetics convention. His body was later found on a road in Jones County (N.
C.). Mr. White had been shot in the stomach with a shotgun. Mrs. White and her
two agents three were arrested in connection to White's murder.

Basden was sentenced to death for actually pulling the
trigger and was eventually executed in 2002. Taylor was sentenced to 30 years.
Pleading to avoid the death penalty, Ipock-White received life in prison.

As a result of White's murder, a 1973 death in the family,
of a four-year-old boy that had been ruled accidental was re-examined in a new
light. Sylvia Ipock-White had delivered her stepson, Billy White, asphyxiated
from dry cleaning plastic that, according to step-mom he had swallowed. Plastic
was removed from the child’s throat, but he did not survive. Two decades after
the “accident” the boy’s body was exhumed. The autopsy ruled the death a
homicide. Sylvia was charged with his murder, was convicted and sentenced once
again to life in prison.

Suzanne Barr, author of a book on Sylvia Ipock-White’s
criminal career, "Fatal Kiss,"
(2005), believes she hasa total of
three murders to her credit. Her first victim was husband #1, Mr. Ipock. He was
shot to death in 1967 and the case was ruled a suicide. Yet, as Barr points
out,some evidence in the case never
added up. "He was right-handed, but the gun was in his left hand,” notes
Barr, summing up her subject’s career, observing: "She got away with
that," she added. "She killed three people."

The case was featured on the Discovery ID TV series Deadly
Sins, in the episode “Small Town Massacre,” first aired Feb. 9, 2013.

***

Victims:

Jun. 18, 1967 – Leslie Ipock, first husband, died. “Sylvia
White married Leslie Ipock in 1959, and they had two boys. He died in 1967, at
age 32, of a shot to his temple. A pistol was found by his side. It was ruled
suicide.”

Ernest West Basden shot Billy White twice in a murder-for-hire scheme
devised by co-conspirators James Lynwood Taylor, his nephew, and Sylvia
Ipock White, the victim's wife. Taylor pretended to be a wealthy
businessman wanting to buy insurance and lured White to a wooded rural
area. Taylor and Basden drove to the designated spot and waited. When
White arrived, Taylor got out of his car and introduced himself, then
Basden got out of the car and picked up a twelve-gauge shotgun he had
placed on the ground. Basden pointed the gun at Billy and pulled the
trigger. The shotgun did not fire because Basden had not cocked the
hammer back. Basden then cocked the hammer and fired. Billy was knocked
to the ground. Basden removed the spent shell casing and loaded another
shell into the shotgun. Basden then approached Billy, who was lying face
up on the ground, and while standing over him, shot him again. As
agreed, Taylor gave his cash-strapped uncle $300 for the killing. Both
Taylor and Basden later confessed to their roles in the killing. Mrs.
White is currently serving two consecutive life sentences. Taylor is
serving a life sentence. [Clark County Prosecuting Attorney]